I’m remodeling my bathroom and decided to installed a UTILITECH Fan/Exhaust/Heater combo. There is no existing wiring to reference from so I’m starting from scratch. The unit has Fan (White and Black wires), Light (White/Blue), and the Heater (Black/Red) and ground. I connecting this to a 20 amp circuit per manufacturer recommendations. I’ve connected all whites together, all grounds, my peril is that I have three wire in the unit left (black, red, and blue) and in the 12/3 I have two wires left black and red. Do I have to pig tail one of the connection or do I connect the blue and white together? I forgot to mention that this is being connect to a three way switch to operate each item individually.

I’m a big fan of house-improvements so thanks in advance for the help.

My first thought is fan and light will be 120V and heater is 240 so black from light and and blue from fan and black from heater hook to black supply. The red from heater would then go to red from supply.
Wait what this about a three way switch? I don't under stand that part?

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I’m remodeling my bathroom and decided to installed a UTILITECH Fan/Exhaust/Heater combo. There is no existing wiring to reference from so I’m starting from scratch. The unit has Fan (White and Black wires), Light (White/Blue), and the Heater (Black/Red) and ground. I connecting this to a 20 amp circuit per manufacturer recommendations. I’ve connected all whites together, all grounds, my peril is that I have three wire in the unit left (black, red, and blue) and in the 12/3 I have two wires left black and red. Do I have to pig tail one of the connection or do I connect the blue and white together? I forgot to mention that this is being connect to a three way switch to operate each item individually.

I’m a big fan of house-improvements so thanks in advance for the help.

Yes, Shannon the question was about a switch. I was trying to figure out the load for each item to connect to the 3 way switch. So here is what I did, I connected all the whites together and one blue for the light together with the whites. I did this with 12/3 then black to black, red to red, ground to ground. At the switch I connected line in to black screw, copper to green screw, then red to first switch, pigtailed the white for second load switch, and black for the last switch. Since this was my first time attempting this it felt somewhat confusing.

So you want three 3-way switches to control the fan, light, and heater independently? You can do that, but it's pretty elaborate and expensive wiring and sort of silly... usually lights are just controlled with 3-way switches, which is what I'd recommend. You turn on the light from one of two locations. Then you can see where you need to walk to turn on a fan and heater if you need those.

So you want a switch with three toggles on it not a 3 way switch..ok now I see what you are doing. I don't think that wiring diagram wayne posted is the correct one because from what you described this heater is 240V and a switch like that would not work on 240V.
There must be a model number for that unit somewhere that can be searched on line to find a wiring diagram . Also position a picture of the wiring may be helpful please.

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Hmm I see these units on line now and there is no way that is a 240v heater. In your original post you said the heater had black and red wires? did you mean white and red? Also did you install a 12/3 cable from the switch to the unit? If so you would not have enough wires.
Anyways lets see what you have for sure ,see if you can find us a model or at least post a couple pictures .

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Shannon it's definitely a 120V heater. I thought it could be 240V until I saw the wiring diagram wayne posted above.

I suspect his power is at the unit itself, not the switch, and he said he's using a 20 amp circuit. So he needs to run two 12/3 cables to the switch box where he has his three switches. Those switches should be rated for 20 amps of current, or at least the one that switches on the heater.

The white wire in the 12/3 cables should be reidentified with blue electrical tape or a band permanent marker.

It would be better if the power entered the switch box. Then I'd just run two 12/2 cables to the fan/heater/light from the switches. One black of the 12/2 would get reidentified as red, and one white would get reidentified as blue. Then you have a neutral in the switch box, too.

Shannon it's definitely a 120V heater. I thought it could be 240V until I saw the wiring diagram wayne posted above.

I suspect his power is at the unit itself, not the switch, and he said he's using a 20 amp circuit. So he needs to run two 12/3 cables to the switch box where he has his three switches. Those switches should be rated for 20 amps of current, or at least the one that switches on the heater.

The white wire in the 12/3 cables should be reidentified with blue electrical tape or a band permanent marker.

Wouldn't a 12/2 and 12/3 do it?

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If the power were going to the fan/light/heater itself, then two 12/3s need to go from the fan/light/heater to the switch box... one to bring power to the three switches and the other to switch power back to the fan/light/heater.

I would have run a 12/2 for the neutral and power supply back to the switch location and then just pig tail the hot wire to each switch if needed but many of those three toggle switches I think just have one hot screw connection and then that power is distributed within the switch unit itself? In my example the neutral is just capped in the switch box to appease the code and is there for future needs.

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Yeah running 12/2 power to the switches is a better idea. Because then you could just run two 12/2s up to the heater/fan/light from the switch and still have a neutral in the switch box. (You would use the two blacks and a white from two 12/2 cables for the three hots and the other white for the neutral). Red and blue tape should be used for the hots that are not black.

Yeah those three switch combo things often have just one common screw for the hot and three for each switch. It's essentially a built-in pigtail.

First let me mention that I’m in Pennsylvania, 120v around here. Like Shannon mention the switch has one black screw for feed, ground, and 3 load, one for each switch. Aaron I would try connecting to the unit direct to power but that is not code here.

So if understand correctly I can run a 12/3 with an additional white mark as blue. My original setup is 12/2 from panel to switch, 12/3 from the switch unit. At switch I connected b&b, g&g, w&w with a pigtail for load into first switch, red into second load switch. At the unit 3w&b together, g&g, b&b, r&r. Hope the pics help.

You've got power going to the switch (which is good!), but I don't understand how you're powering the fan/light/heater with just 12/3 alone because you'd be using all three of those conductors (black, red, and white) for the loads and you still need to bring a neutral up there.

So my proposal would be to run two 12/2s from switch to fan/light/heater. Then you have four conductors. Use red and blue electrical tape to reidentify a white and black conductor among the four. Then you have a plain white for the neutral. You'll have two grounds, but there's nothing wrong with that.

You will need a larger beefier box than that blue plastic Carlon box, because you will violate code cramming all that 12 gauge wiring in there. I recommend a 4" inch square 2-1/8" deep steel box with a one-gang mud ring. You will also need two NM connectors for steel boxes, and a 10-32 ground screw for pigtailing a ground to the box itself.

Yup That will work and infact if you want one of the wires can be 14/2 as long as it hooks up to the light and fan only. Don't use it for the heat or neutral use the 12/2 for that. But if you have the 12/2 wire already it will be fine for both. Also be sure you have 12/2 going to the switch from the electrical box 20 amp breaker . And of course if this unit is in the shower area it needs to be on a 20amp GFCI.

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If the power were going to the fan/light/heater itself, then two 12/3s need to go from the fan/light/heater to the switch box... one to bring power to the three switches and the other to switch power back to the fan/light/heater.

diagram.png

What did you use to make up your diagram ? And where do you get the pics to go into it ?
Looks like that could come in handy.